Buddhism as a Kenyan heresy

[Sumit Guha]

Dear colleagues,
I do regret that a joking reference to our common African descent should
have so upset Herr Professor Witzel and led him to bombard the list with so
much irrelevant information.

The relevant question simply is:

The Buddha as a founder of a major religion is located in a religious
milieu and tradition.

What were the geographical boundaries of that tradition at the relevant
time? (By boundaries of the tradition I mean the zone within which schools
of thought regularly contended and communicated.)

If this boundary extended North of Merv, I would be happy to see the evidence.

But as far as I can see the named personages in the tradition appear to
have lived, preached and argued within north India.

Whether some branch of the Saka came to North India in the first half of
the 1st millennium BCE
simply has no bearing on this issue - nor does the veritably Pauranika spew
of names that adorn Professor Witzel's rejoinder.
Sincerely,
Sumit Guha